Aldeburgh noughties

The Jubilee Hall in Aldeburgh was crammed today with all sorts of crafty things for Top Crafts 2008 and television personality John Bly was taking an active interest in a lady working with glass.  The show continues all weekend including Monday and it's free to get in ...

... meanwhile up the road in the Aldeburgh Cinema Gallery John Bawtree told us that the first visitor at his Zanzibar exhibition was the widow of Zanzibar's last British resident.  From 1913 to 1963 Zanzibar was a British protectorate and had a resident rather than a governor.  Cinema manager Sue Harrison arrived and there had been returns for Daughter of the Regiment; the cinema expects to repeat the live New York Metropolitan Opera House link ups this autumn.  The Zanzibar exhibition continues until Thursday 8th May and it's free too.

Because we're a bit pretentious a little telly treat last Christmas was The Daughter of the Regiment with the divine Natalie Dessay (watch for her back facing curtsey at the end:).  And our point is?  It's La Fille du Regiment as the last of this season's live link ups with the New York Met this Saturday at the Aldeburgh Cinema.

A John Western watercolour living in Knodishall and depicting sail boats at Slaughden Quay, Aldeburgh is for sale on ebaY with a starting price of £800.

You know how racks of those terribly fashionable Crocs always stop at size 8?  Well not in Alde River they don't, they go up to size 13; find the shop, not surprisingly, in Aldeburgh High Street 01728 452476.

The odd little off license in Aldeburgh with the equally odd but charming Adnams metalwork has been shut certainly since last spring?  It's now a Darcy B dress shop (there are other Darcy Bs in Framlingham and Woodbridge) and the metalwork has gone, they could have painted it to match the wall and retained the little oddity.

Despite the recent weather Aldeburgh still appears to be there but don't know what happened to the bathing huts ...

Here's a bit of solid gold, a 1950s train journey on the Saxmundham-Aldeburgh branch calling at Thorpe Halt ... accompanied by Flanders and Swan ... and we've just worked out that the boy standing seemingly dangerously on the track is holding up the single track token for the driver.

One of the nice things about coastal Suffolk is when the new year begins with the weather is at it's most miserable and you're still paying for Christmas so do the Friday lunchtime concerts at the Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh.  As we arrived somewhat early today the single remaining seat was being sold so in the second week of the 2008 season the Heath Quartet played to an absolutely full house.  Violinist Oliver Heath ironically introduced Frank Bridge's Three Idylls for String Quartet as "an English piece for English weather" and we were off with the quartet revealing a lyrical, engaging and confident style that can be heard at the Halesworth Cut at the end of October.  Even though it's out of season you still can't park in Aldeburgh because one side of the High Street has been dug up.